8 pc DA hike for Central staff

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a 8 per cent hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) for Central government employees and pensioners.

This decision, against the backdrop of rising inflation hitting people at large, is likely to benefit nearly 50 lakh Central government employees and pensioners. The 8 per cent hike in DA of government employees and dearness relief of pensioners will be effective January 1, this year.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told newspersons after the Cabinet meeting that the increase is over and above the existing DA rate of 27 per cent of basic pay or pension. Thus the DA for the Central government employees stands revised from the existing 27 per cent to 35 per cent of the basic pay.

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and dearness relief would be of the order of Rs 6,969.36 crore per annum and Rs 8,131.20 crore in the financial year 2010-2011.

The DA revision is based on the consumer price index (CPI) for industrial workers, which has been showing a steep increase along with other indices of price rise.The CPI for industrial workers increased to 16.2 per cent in January from 10.4 per cent a year ago.DH News Service